Determination
by Moved to A New Accnt
Summary: Undertale Chara: A take on Chara's reason why she hated the village and her story before meeting Asriel. Short one-shot.


The sun was golden, soft rays penetrating through the canopy of trees above me. The fallen leaves grew thicker and thicker as I ran through a forest I barely know. All around me, crisp orange leaves continued to glide in the air, the autumn breeze gently guiding them to fall.

It was beautiful.

I _hated_ it.

People don't deserve these beautiful forests and skies, when all people do is take advantage of others. Not to survive, but to satisfy their greed; their sickest desires. Why does this world continue to justify the cruelties of people? Why does it let them live?

People do not deserve to live on this wonderful, peaceful earth.

I _hated_ them.

But I'm just one, small girl. I can't change the world. I can't cleanse the world of their atrocities. So I'll just run.

And I'll just keep on running until I find refuge. Someplace I can be alone; someplace no one will ever have to find me. And grow there.

I look back at the forest trail behind me. Ah, _blood_. I guess my back wounds haven't really healed up yet. But I don't think I still have time to rest. Anytime soon they'll notice I'm not in the shed. Surely the soil and the leaves would soon cover up my tracks.

I could feel the back of my sweater soaking up the blood, the damp fabric rubbing and nearly gumming on my wounds. Damn Lady Leviton, she had given me more whip beatings than usual early this morning, going off about a missing apple from her fruit tray. ' _How am I going to complete my still life painting?! The auction's in three days!'_ What an idiot. I took her little son's lunchbox and ate it, yet she didn't notice that. Goes to show what people valued more, really.

I had enough of her and everyone else. Although I will miss tending her horses, it will never justify everything she's done to me.

Catching my breath, I eventually slow down and hide behind a large oak tree, slumping to the soft grass. My back wounds sting a little, but they'll heal—like everything else on my body. My arms had a couple of scars, and my right leg still had this bandage. My knees have these blisters from kneeling too much.

Perhaps, though, my hatred for her and everyone else in Ebott Village will never heal. One day, when I'm older, stronger and bigger, I'll come back and make everyone suffer. This little orphan girl they loved to mock and push around will come back.

I can't help but look at my frail, young self and cry. I've seen much of the world and its cruelties, and I felt like I've gone so much older already mentally. From losing my parents to being nabbed and brought to an unknown village along with other orphaned kids as slaves, I think I've dealt so much at a young age.

What is my childhood, I ask myself. Childhood was seeing your parents murdered. Childhood was seeing the last ray of sunlight as you're thrown into a crate box with two other kids, suffocating and starving. Childhood was being shoved into Lady Leviton's house and immediately being sent to the shed—my room. Childhood was being whipped when Lady Leviton's drunk. Childhood was being beaten up when I take a short break after cleaning the stables and pig pen the whole day. Childhood… was running away from Ebott Village, bleeding, wounded, desperate for refuge, and building this burning hatred for everyone you have encountered for the last few years.

The few memories I have of my parents have begun disappearing already. I barely know how they look like now, and could only remember how much they loved me. But that too, is becoming a fading feeling. I'm beginning to forget, and it's scaring me.

Suddenly, I hear faint thumping of horse hooves. Angry screams from a distance—Lady Leviton.

Damn, she was quick. I wince as I start to get up, but I quickly lose balance and fall to my side. I elicited a sharp gasp as I hold on to my left arm. My face and hair were struck with twigs, dirt and leaves. I was getting too dizzy now. Blood loss, perhaps. Nonetheless, if Lady Leviton finds me now, she's definitely throwing me back into the shed. Or maybe kill me.

I don't want to die yet. Not this way, and not by her. Not until I get my revenge.

So I run. I run deeper into the forest, away from the fast approaching noise coming from that snotty lady.

And I reach the foot of Mt. Ebott. I look around me. The trees had thickened and the shrubs have become far more dangerous to walk through. The golden sun has begun to set as the horizon was painted a deep red, and in a couple of minutes, twilight may come. Maybe Lady Leviton would leave me if I wait for the evening; surely she's not going to continue searching for one battered child slave in a mysterious forest at night.

As I sit, hidden by a tall patch of grass, I could see a couple of dim lights from a distance. Fireflies, are they? I smile a little, entranced. Sigh, nature was so beautiful, yet… Why does this earth leave the humans in charge?

Soon the fireflies became bigger, accompanied by yet another enraged call from Lady Leviton. I pale. They were _torches_. Lady Leviton wasn't alone… These were the village guards, maybe, and they were still searching for me.

"YOU DEVIL MIDGET!" I could hear her yell, her wicked voice echoing throughout the forest. "YOU COME BACK NOW!"

I bit my tongue, sinking lower in my hiding place. These village guards would not help. They never had despite seeing me suffer under her. She had the power of the village, and much more over this region. She was untouchable. What injustice.

The flames of the torches drew nearer, and I could hear them more clearly now. A few feet away, maybe. I have to move, I have to run.

I crept again towards the foot of the mountain. My eyes tried to wander to the top, thickly hidden by the trees. But from what I heard, Mt. Ebott wasn't too tall, so maybe I could climb it, as long as I don't pass out in the middle of it and let them find my rotting body. I don't think these stupid guards would chase me to this mountain, so I began climbing.

The lower part of the mountain was a lot tolerable. Following a trail, I run past the trees and the bushes, feeling the land slant slowly. But the farther I went, the thinner the forest around me became; all the greenery becoming boulders and dust.

Lady Leviton screams. _She's found me._ I slightly look back down, and saw a small group of people and horses below me. The village guards prepare to traverse the mountain trail. Lady Leviton holds up a torch, her face contorted into a furious image.

I was beginning to see the barren half of the mountain, one that the thick canopy of trees has been hiding. There was no choice. I was not going to surrender.

My hands were weak and feeble, barely grasping every rock I could hold on to, and my right foot was getting number every minute. The large cut on my back had stopped bleeding, but it stung so badly, and is still, nonetheless, an open wound. But no, I should move. This is not the end of me. So I push myself, drain every energy I have until I can reach the top. Until I can find my own sanctuary.

"COME DOWN!"

My heart pounded in my chest, and tears began to form at the corners of my eyes. I'm still scared. I cannot lose this. If I fall, if I lose my concentration, I'll fall back to her hands, to hell. I refuse to return to her in my current form.

I push harder. The upper half of Mt. Ebott was harshly steep, but it seemed like a short journey to its peak. I sped up climbing, despite the blisters and lesions from rushing. Some rocks crumbled as I held on to them, almost making me fall. My shirt snagged at the pointed rock forms at times, tearing it bit by bit, but I continued to move. I could hear at least two people following me, shouting at me to surrender.

I was almost there. My heart was crazy, it beat so fast and so hard, and I was losing my breath. I fought the tears, I persisted. Being her slave until death is not my destiny. I will make my destiny, and that is to return someday to avenge myself.

 _To kill her. To kill everyone._

Push. Don't fall. Don't _die._

 _Stay determined._

Air becomes thin at this point, and my breathing becomes unsteady, erratic. _Just a little more._

My sight becomes unstable now. It's becoming dimmer and… blurry…

 _Just a few steps…_

"You brat! Come back down!" One guard bellows at me, a few feet from where I was.

"Lady Leviton is going to kill us! Come on now!" The other says.

At this I laugh. I laugh as it resounded from our current position, my two scrawny hands clutching on tightly on the formations. It was so difficult to do so, but I found it so fitting.

"So what?" I shout back at the guards, grinning darkly. "I get to live, and you get killed. I don't see anything wrong with that!"

With the last bit of strength I could muster, I made the last of my steps into strong kicks that were enough to crumble the edges of the rock formations, the rubble falling into the guards' faces as I did. I laughed until my chest hurt, laughed louder as I heard their pleas for me to stop.

I made it to the top, my hand reaching out for the summit's surface. I looked down, breathing heavily, wounded. The guards were still there, speeding up. I pushed myself altogether to sit on the prickly exterior of the peak, and took a deep breath. Where was I going to run now? As the guards were approaching, I only have the other side of the mountain to escape towards to. For all I know, Lady Leviton may have had the guards run to the other side already.

It's not like I could find something that…

I freeze.

Was Mt. Ebott a volcano after all? I did not know there was a crater on its summit. I could not feel any heat coming from it, so it may mean there's no lava within its crater. Maybe it's a sleeping volcano.

Mindlessly, I approach the crater, wondering why there were an abundance of intertwined vines coming from it, and a mysterious force drawing me in.

And then I tripped.

My foot snagged on one of these vines, causing me to fall into the crater. I yell. But only the echoes of my frightened scream came to me as I fell into the void, the twilight skies slowly disappearing from my sight.

I eventually landed face first on the ground, wincing in excruciating pain. My nose was bleeding and I couldn't move my arms. Did… Did I break my bones? And… where was I?

I struggled to move my face, tears in my eyes and blood dripping. Surrounding me were rocks and stalagmites, nothing ordinary. However, ahead of me lies a path… One that seemed to lead to an intricately designed door.

I wanted to go stand and explore it, but my whole body hurt. I was lying in a pool of blood, coming from my nose and now from my legs. I… was going to die here. If only there was a way to save myself right now…

Maybe… if I just rest… if I just close my eyes…

"…"

"It sounds like it came from over here…"

 _Who… Who said that?_

I opened my eyes slowly, only to be greeted by the same pool blood, although it has seemingly dried up. But my body was still in terrible pain. Was… Was there someone? Was I hallucinating?

"Oh! You've fallen down haven't you…? Are you okay?"

There _was_ someone—obviously, someone stupid, because I am probably bleeding, my clothes are tattered, and I can't get up. Of course I'm not okay.

I resisted the pain and tried to look at the source of the voice. My vision was still bad, although, as the person approaches, I could make out of his distinct features… Long, flappy ears, white fur and… Wait. He… wasn't human. Yet… he… talks?

He quickly disappeared from my sight, and I groaned in pain. Who was this? I need to find out. I need to know where I am. I tried standing, but could barely move my legs and arms.

Suddenly, I felt his furry arm around me, trying to help me stand. "Here, get up…"

"…"

"…"

He waited for my breathing to settle, as he kept me standing, although I was mostly leaning against him at this. His arm was smeared with my blood, and although I can see him panicking in his eyes, he remained still, arm and hoof holding me up.

Yeah, he's stupid but… he's nice. Far nicer than any treatment from humans…

"I'm…. _Chara_."

"Chara, huh? That's a nice name!" He was such a bright character… A nice person and his voice… It fills me with… _hope._

 _Hope to accomplish what I live for: to return to Ebott Village and take my revenge._

He smiles kindly at me. "My name is Asriel."

I smile back sweetly, in between blood and pain.

 _I'm more determined than ever now._


End file.
